3 ms·
I'm in a similar position. There are several Google and FB open source projects that not only some of my co workers have advocated for, but that I would myself
by genocidicbunny 5y ago
I'm in a similar position. There are several Google and FB open source projects that not only some of my co workers have advocated for, but that I would myself actually like to make some use of.
On the one hand, I think consuming their truly open source projects is a little bit of sticking it to the man -- you're getting for free something they spent money and time on.
But on the other hand, mindshare is a thing, and by using their products, even if truly open source, I am helping increase it.
For my own purposes, I have not used the Google or FB heritage of a given open source project to be an automatic disqualifier, but it is definitely a negative. If there are technically-comparable alternatives, I tend to lean towards those.
- taffronaut 5y agoAnother route is to lobby those projects to adopt an open governance model. This effectively puts the management of the project at arm's length from the corporate parent. It's a trade-off for them to get more engagement vs rescinding control. There are a number of hosting organisations that take this kind of thing on: Linux Foundation, Linaro, Eclipse.